'Everest' director Baltasar Kormakur set to adapt pandemic-set love story 'Touching'
Feb 08, 2021
Washington [US], February 8 : Filmmaker Baltasar Kormakur, who has helmed '2 Guns,' 'Everest,' and 'Adrift' is set to team up with Icelandic author Olaf Olafsson on the film adaptation of the writer's bestselling pandemic based novel 'Touching' ('Snerting').
According to Variety, Olafsson, a former executive VP at Time Warner, is a prolific and critically acclaimed author whose books - notably 'Absolution,' 'The Journey Home,' 'The Sacrament' and 'One Station Away' - have been published around the world being translated into more than 20 languages.
Set amid the 2020 pandemic, 'Touching' is a working title for the movie. The movie is being described as a sensual and thrilling love story unfolding across the globe and woven into historical events. The novel, which ranked as Iceland's best-selling book of 2020, takes place in today's Reykjavik and Tokyo, and in London in the 1960s.
As reported by Variety, Olafsson is currently adapting the story into a screenplay. Kormakur will produce via his outfit RVK Studios and will direct the film, which is now in advanced development. Production is expected to start in 2022.
"The book was so gripping that it kept me reading for a whole night. I was instantly inspired to make a film based on it," said Kormakur, whose work spans theater, movies, and television.
Kormakur's credits take in '101 Reykjavik,' 'Jar City,' 'The Deep,' 'Contraband' with Mark Wahlberg, '2 Guns' with Wahlberg and Denzel Washington, 'The Oath' (in which he also stars), 'Everest' with Jason Clarke and 'Adrift' with Shailene Woodley, as well as the award-winning series 'Trapped' and upcoming Netflix show 'Katla.'
During the pandemic, Kormakur shot 'Katla,' described as a supernatural volcano drama, at his RVK Studios. RVK Studios has produced all of Kormakur's Icelandic movies and series, as well as his English-language movies 'Everest' and 'Adrift.'
